Here are some words about a wonderful cat peculiarity. A cat spends very much time at sleeping. Its' special anatomy and physiology shows its' organism is used to acting in abrupt impulses. A hunter doesn't need endurance and self-control but intensive work in short period of time and distance. According to this, cats get great satisfaction during rest and respites.
Love for comfort - warm place on a windowsill, under the table lamp on a desktop or on a favorite pillow - is the main feature of the lifestyle. In a whole, cat sleeps sixteen hours a day, several minutes sometimes, slumbering, as it's called. One has no idea why our pussy sleeps longer than other mammals.
Sleeping or staying awake, a cat continuously receives information form the environment. In one scientific experiment a cat was located in such way as not to get any signals from outside, at that an encephalogram of work of brain was taken. The result was as follows. In that case a cat brain could only percept its' organism functioning. There were no any evidence of unusual decisions or appearance of any considerations - it's clear that a cat will not compose poems or remember different events from its' rich past like people do when find themselves in similar condition.
A brain of sleeping cats was also studied by means of encephalograms. At that, stages of profound and superficial sleep were determined - 30% and 70%, correspondingly. These phases take turns: you can trace the outer demonstrations of such state: movements of paws and claws, jerking of whiskers, stir of ears and sometimes an animal utters different sounds.
It's interesting that a brain of cat when it is in profound sleep is so active as during being awake and stays on the lookout to percept an alarm that comes through the sense organs. So don't try to pull a sleeping cat at its' tail, supposing that you be lucky to escape penalty: it'll wake up in a moment.
Cat often and continuously yawns before going asleep and after it wakes up. Then it stretches itself industriously and, keeping paws close to one another arches its' back. Tail at that time hangs down limply and head is down. Then it shakes its' body in turn, beginning usually with fore limbs. Quite often after that it stretches itself at full length to sharpen claws - on tree, on wall or furniture in the house. But it is another topic.
Translated by Tatiana Karpova (Moscow)
(MSU, Biology faculture, Dep. zoology and ecology).